New Delhi: After a gap of seven years, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) resumed talks with the pro-talk faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) here in New Delhi on Friday. “We have resumed our talks. We are hopeful of getting an early solution to bring permanent peace in Assam,” said Ulfa leader Anup Chetia while speaking to ETV Bharat.
Chetia said that senior officials from the Home Ministry participated in the talks on Friday. Ulfa’s pro-talk faction led by Arabinda Rajkhowa met senior officials from the Home Ministry and Intelligence Bureau (IB) in Delhi. The pro-talk groups presently in Delhi also include Sasadhar Choudhury and Raju Baruah.
Also read: Peace agreement with the pro-talks faction of ULFA expires in May-end; govt in talks for extension: Himanta
Sources in the government told this correspondent that the talks started at 11 am and continued for a few hours. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who had come to Delhi on Thursday, was supposed to participate in the talks. Sarma as well as Home Minister Amit Shah, according to the sources, are likely to participate in the deliberations on Saturday. The talks between the leadership of the outfit and the government centred around political safeguards for the indigenous people of Assam.
The Centre, in April, sent a draft agreement to the pro-talks faction. The leaders of the outfit gave up violence in 2011 and agreed to sit for talks without any pre-condition. It was in February 2016 that an Ulfa delegation led by Rajkhowa and Chetia met the Home Ministry officials in New Delhi before the resumption of the talks on Friday. During his Independence Day speech in Guwahati, Chief Minister Sarma said that a possible solution to the Ulfa issue is expected before the 2024 general elections.
